The city of Chicago’s reputation as a hotbed of political malfeasance and corruption was reinforced this month with the conviction of former Ald. Ed Burke (14th).
But pound for pound, Chicago’s southern suburbs might have the city beaten when it comes to governmental shenanigans.
Case in point: the recent activities of freshman Thornton Township Supervisor Tiffany Henyard, who got an ordinance passed this month that would’ve made old school Chicago pols verdant with envy.
Henyard makes $224,000 a year as township supervisor. But under the ordinance, if she runs for reelection in 2025 and loses, her successor’s salary would drop to only $25,000 a year.
If Henyard wins reelection, the ordinance would require her salary remain the same.
And under the ordinance, anyone who beats a current elected Thornton Township office holder would also face a lowered salary.
This maneuver is about as politically rotten and self-serving as it gets — a bid by elected officials to use tax dollars and the law to chase away political rivals.
Both Henyard and the Thornton Township Board should move to repeal the ordinance.
Dolton ‘better have my money’
Henyard, who was elected township supervisor in 2021, earns an additional $46,000 a year as mayor of Dolton, a working-class and economically disinvested suburb within the township.
And she’s also one of the more colorful figures in south Cook County politics. Last May, she presided over a Dolton village board meeting — we kid you not — dressed like Nino Brown, the violent, drug-dealing chieftain played by Wesley Snipes in the 1991 movie “New Jack City.”
And if that weren’t enough, Henyard brought a DJ to the meeting who played Rihanna’s hit, “Bitch Better Have My Money” as the mayor asked trustees to fund a village ice rink.
“At the end of the day, this is what they told me to tell you all,” Henyard said, according to Fox32 about the payment for the ice rink before queuing up the DJ. “Pay me what you owe me!”
And according to an Illinois Answers Project and FOX32 investigation, Henyard has used taxpayer funds to finance a private cancer foundation named after her. The foundation’s officers are employees of Thornton Township and the village of Dolton.
Illinois Answers Project and FOX32 also reported Henyard spent thousands in public funds to sponsor a bicycle ride from the south suburbs to Springfield to support some sort of breast cancer legislation.
The problem? The state legislature wasn’t in session during the ride — and no such bill was filed in Springfield.
Then there are trips to Las Vegas made by Dolton officials on the village’s dime. A May sojourn there was supposedly to attend a shopping center conference, but according to WGN News, it’s unclear if the town benefited from the pricey trip.
Keep in mind Dolton is a relatively poor town of 20,000 people and faced a $5 million municipal deficit this year.
Enough is enough
Dolton is but one in a cluster of Thornton Township suburbs that have been plagued by corruption and bad government for decades.
Old timers will remember when the Dixmoor Park District sold and handed out 80 police badges to politically-connected non-cops 20 years ago.
And earlier this month, Rommell Kellogg was convicted in federal court for conspiring and demanding $3,000-a-month payments from a Harvey strip club for 15 years in exchange for allowing prostitution to take place at the establishment.
Kellogg is the brother of Eric Kellogg, who was Harvey’s mayor at the time. The former mayor was not charged in the case, but according to the feds, he is the “Individual A” mentioned in the federal complaint as having participated in the scheme.
Add to that the drinking water problems, flooding and other infrastructure issues the southern suburbs regularly experience, it’s far past time for honest and competent municipal leadership to take the reins in the area.
Enough is enough.
South suburban voters have a role to play in ridding their region of bad governmental actors and gameplayers.
But their job becomes a little easier when bad laws are turned back. And the Thornton Township ordinance is good example of one that should be ash canned.
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